Santorum Backs Away from Bush and Iraq

The maneuvering in the Pennsylvania senatorial race continues. Both major party candidates are clearly embarrassed by the mainstream of their parties and are moving to portray themselves as independents. For Casey, this means taking on the pro-abortion activists who had made his father a pariah. For Santorum it means distancing himself from the President's unpopular war in Iraq. The Tribune Review reports:

President George W. Bush says we're winning in Iraq, but he is losing Sen. Rick Santorum.

Mr. Bush's objective and unbiased assessments about the ongoing military and civil operations no longer suffice for the Penn Hills Republican.

"I don't look at things as 'personal loyalty,'" Mr. Santorum told me between spoonfuls of oatmeal with raisins and brown sugar at the Eat 'n Park in Whitehall last Friday. "I like the president. I consider the president a friend of mine but I don't see that I have an obligation to be loyal to him personally on every decision he makes.

"I'm not."

….

In a Jan. 5 letter to Bush, Santorum called for a panel of Democrat and Republican "graybeards" to assess the war. "(T)he American people should hear objective and unbiased assessments of both military and civil operations ongoing in Iraq ... (and it) would help in building the confidence and trust of the American people on progress in Iraq."

The commission would gather information and make suggestions even if Bush didn't welcome the kibitzing.

Read it here.

At first glance this would seem to be at odds with Santorum's repeated expressions of support for the war effort. But look closely at what Santorum is proposing:

Sen. Rick Santorum (R., Pa.) reaffirmed his support of the Iraq conflict yesterday, saying slanted media coverage and "political left demagoguery" had eroded support for the war and made it difficult for Americans to understand the consequences of failure.

"The inevitable Monday morning quarterbacking is often politically motivated, and its constancy is counterproductive to our success in this war," Santorum told cadets at Valley Forge Military Academy and College in Wayne. "It is time for leaders in both parties to focus on executing a plan."

Santorum reiterated his call for President Bush to convene a bipartisan, independent panel that would "take a look forward" at progress in Iraq. He asked for patience from the public and urged elected officials to "stop the overpoliticization of this conflict."

Read it here.

What he actually is proposing is to move all discussion of the war out of the realm of partisan politics [where he is getting clobbered] and turn it over to a bipartisan panel of "greybeards".

Good luck with that Rickey. I'm sure the Democrats will be glad to accommodate you and drop their best issue.